On the Outside Looking In
by Dragons Weyr
Summary: A series of one-shots taking place after the movie. Basically they'll be all done in POVs other than Rapunzel and Eugene.
1. The Captain's Very Bad Day

**Title: **The Captain's Very Bad Day.

**Rating:** T

**Warnings:** Mostly just swearing

**Spoilers:** Some of the movie obviously.

**Disclaimer:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Disney, the company that controls Tangled. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended

**Author Notes:** These are going to be a series of one-shots. I have some ideas of my own but I don't mind also trying my hand at taking in ideas of others. I likely won't write smut though, mostly because I don't feel I can do it in the manner that I would like. I'm very picky about that. Anyway, this is my take on how Eugene and Rapunzel managed to get their meeting with the King and Queen without Eugene getting arrested.

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><p>Captain Hektor of the Royal Coronan Guards was having a very bad day. If fact, he was having a very bad couple of days. Or maybe a bad couple of weeks. Or years. He wasn't really sure any more. All he knew was that the last three days had been so incredibly frustrating that it was any wonder that he hadn't ripped his moustache off by now.<p>

And it was all Flynn Rider's fault.

It all started when the damn thief managed to infiltrate the Royal Palace and steal the Crown of the Lost Princess right from under the noses of his men. That was bad enough, but then, while chasing the bastard through the forest, Rider had managed to knock him off his horse. Hektor had lost track of both Maximus and Rider for a while, their tracks disappearing over a cliff. Losing a good horse like that was yet another mark against the thief. And when they had gotten the first clue about Rider's whereabouts in hours (from one of the Snuggly Duckling regulars no less), he and his men arrived only to find that they were being had by the rest of the godforsaken thugs there.

Thankfully Maximus had shown up to locate the secret tunnel behind the bar of the pub.

It still rankled, however, that Rider and his female accomplice had slipped through their fingers _again_ at the old Morenci Mine Dam. Hektor really had thought they had managed to corner the two there. When the blonde girl had swung (by her _hair,_ he had been shocked to realise) from one ledge to another, the Captain had written it off as the old saying of 'no honour among thieves'. He hadn't been all that concerned about catching her anyway. But just when he thought he would finally get his chance to take down the kingdom's most notorious thief, that son of a bitch managed to knock him out while armed with only a frying pan!_A FRYING PAN_ of all bloody things! And if that wasn't humiliating enough, three more of his men had been taken out the same way. Plus he was positive that Rider had somehow been responsible for the dam collapsing and flooding the mine, nearly drowning him and his men in the process.

He had fervently prayed that the thief had done him the favour of drowning. The idea that he had was the only thing that cheered Captain Hektor up as he and his men trudged back to the capital on foot.

Apparently it was too much to hope for though, since all the next day during the Remembrance Festival, he kept getting reports of Rider sightings. The thief still seemed to be in the company of the blonde girl and for some reason a horse matching Maximus' description was also seen with them. Yet every time men were sent to investigate, _nothing_ was ever found. Hektor could not understand why it was so hard to capture _one_ fucking thief! But finally (FINALLY!) they caught a break. Flynn Rider had been found and captured. Captain Hektor didn't even question why he had been found tied up to a boat nor who had done it (though he did wonder if it was the girl and if so why since the Crown had also been found in Rider's hand).

And for one night, everything was right in the world. The Crown of the Lost Princess had been returned and Flynn Rider was in prison awaiting his execution in the morning. It was a moment of pure bliss for Captain Hektor.

And then that moment ended.

If he had known what was going to happen, the Captain might have chosen to _not_ be the one to escort Rider to the gallows the next morning. At least that way he could have avoided the shame of being knocked out, _yet again_, with a frying pan as the Snuggly Duckling thugs broke the thief out of prison. When he had questioned the thugs that had been captured after Rider's escape, none of them could give him a straight answer as to _why_ they had done so. The only fact they could agree upon was that Maximus (_HIS OWN HORSE!_) had been the one to convince them to do it.

"God damn it, I could use a drink." Hektor muttered to himself as he walked through the halls of the Guard barracks to his office. It was late afternoon now and still no sign of Rider or Maximus. He had just come from reporting to the King and Queen his failure to prevent the thief's escape. Neither of his monarchs had seemed all that upset about it, only relieved to have their daughter's crown back. The King had even told him to not bother with sending out search parties, something that Hektor had done anyway.

He was not going to let Rider get away quite so easily.

Just then the Captain could hear a loud commotion coming through the windows facing the main gates to the castle complex. Wondering what the hell was going on, Hektor ran back through the halls to the door of the barracks that faced the main courtyard of the palace. What he saw stopped him dead in his tracks.

There in the courtyard, just inside the gates was Maximus. The horse was rearing and flailing his hooves at any guard that tried to come near. And on his back was none other than Flynn Rider, one arm around the waist of the brown-haired girl sitting side-saddle in front of him while his other hand clutched the front of Maximus' saddle. The girl, one of Rider's light-skirts Hektor assumed (the man had a trail of them), had her arms wrapped around the thief in an effort to stay on the back of the bucking horse. And to make the scene even more bizarre was the fact Maximus, instead of attempting to throw off the criminal like the properly trained horse that he was, actually seemed to be protecting his passengers from the dozen or so guards surrounding them.

"WHAT IN ALL HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!" the Captain bellowed. He barrelled down the steps of the barracks and into the fray. Before anyone could move, he grabbed the reins dangling from Maximus' bridle with both hands and pulled, forcing the horse back onto all fours again. Later, Hektor would wonder where his brain had been at that moment. He knew it was incredibly dangerous to get that close to a horse's flailing hooves. He was lucky that Maximus hadn't kicked him in the head. Maybe it was because the other previous blows (from all the frying pans) had knocked all common sense out of him.

There was dead silence in the courtyard. No one appeared to want to move. Not his men and certainly not the two on the back of the white horse. That was all right. Captain Hektor had had more than enough of all this nonsense.

He released one hand from the reins to point a finger up at Rider. "You are under arrest for crimes against the Crown!" He turned his head slightly to give orders over his shoulder. As he did so, he caught the look of resignation on the thief's face and the one of shock and worry on the girl's. Smugness filled the Captain. The thief had been a complete idiot to come back especially so openly and to the palace no less. Hektor looked to the men closest to him and then back at the soon to be prisoners; he was already turning his attention to his orders so he never saw the way Maximus' eyes widened then narrowed. "You lot, seize this ma…"

The order was cut off abruptly as Maximus sneezed suddenly right into Captain Hektor's face. Wetly.

There was another one of those moments of silence as the Captain dropped his grip on Maximus' reins, coughing and gagging as he wiped off the slimy horse snot. The sound of muffled sniggering made his head snap up again to glare at Rider and his companions.

"That was _brilliant_, Max." Hektor hear Rider say in a muffled tone. The thief had his head bowed and face against the girl's shoulder, but the Captain could tell by the way his shoulders were shaking that he was laughing at what had just happened. The girl had both of her hands covering the smile on her lips as well. There was a lizard of some sort perched on the horse's head openly grinning and even Maximus looked amused.

Captain Hektor saw red. He felt his eye twitch and he pursed his lips so hard that it made his moustache bristle. This thief, this goddamn son of a bitch thief, was _LAUGHING_ at him! He was going to personally see Rider hang for this! He would see them all _hang_!

The girl was the first to get control of herself. Perhaps she had seen the look of pure rage on the Captain's face. She dropped her hands and her smile changed from laughter to just a simple earnest one. "Excuse me," she said politely, "but we would like to see the King and Queen, please."

The Captain gave her the barest once over. She had short choppy brown hair, green eyes, and wore a simple purple dress that was too short to cover her bare feet. She was probably just some girl Rider had picked up somewhere. Vaguely Hektor wondered what had happened to the blonde girl the thief had been seen with the previous two days. There was something very familiar about this one that he couldn't quite place so he dismissed the feeling instantly. "And why would their Majesties need to see a thief and a chit like you?"

For a second, Captain Hektor almost regretted his choice of words as not only did Maximus and the lizard glare at him, but Rider's head shot up to glare as well. He saw the girl put a hand on the thief's arm that had tightened around her waist as if to calm the man. She took a deep breath before speaking in a firm carrying voice. "Because my name is Rapunzel. And I am the Lost Princess."

He stared at the pair for a moment before giving a bark of derisive laughter. "Nice try, girl. What sort of _proof_ do you have?" Behind the Captain, he could hear his men muttering to each other.

"What are you? Stupid? What more proof do you need, _Captain_." Rider sneered, turning Hektor's rank into an insult. The thief's expression had turned to a mocking one. "Honestly, do you think I would willingly come back here, putting my neck right back in the noose, if we weren't positive that she's the Lost Princess? I may be a thief, but I'm not a dumbass." The words _like you_ hung silently in the air.

Captain Hektor was about to sneer back when one of the other men stepped forward. It was Lieutenant Conner, that day's Watch commander. "Sir? Captain, sir?" Conner hesitated. He flinched as his Captain turned the glare he had been shooting at Rider on him.

"What?!" Hektor snapped when the Lieutenant paused for too long. Conner gulped before continuing.

"Sir, maybe we should listen to them. They could be telling the truth." At the incredulous look he was receiving, the younger man continued on gamely. "As much as I hate to admit it, Rider _does_ kinda have a point… Sir." He added onto the end almost like an afterthought.

"_Thank you_!" Rider said, flinging one hand in Lieutenant Conner's direction. "Finally! A human guard that actually has a brain and not his head up his ass."

Hektor glared back at the thief and saw the girl, this Rapunzel person, nudge Rider with her elbow. It was only because the Captain was standing so close that he was able to hear her whispered admonishment to the thief. "Eugene, I don't think that's really _helping_."

_Eugene?_ The Captain wondered absently, raising an eyebrow. _Who the hell is Eugene?_ If that was Rider's real name, then no wonder the man had changed it.

"Oh come on, Blondie." Rider whispered back. The nickname further confused Hektor as this girl was anything but blonde. "Even Max and the frog are smarter than any of these guys." He said the last part a loud enough for all to hear, smirking down at the guards. The lizard turned around on Maximus' head to glare at the thief for the _frog_ remark.

Hektor wasn't about to comply with their request just yet, however. There _was_ one glaring detail that Rider and Rapunzel had obviously no taken into account. The Princess had been born with blonde hair. This girl, as he had already made note of, had brown. He crossed his arms as he looked up at the pair with narrowed eyes. "If you are the Lost Princess, how do you explain the fact you do not have blonde hair?" The Captain could help the condescending tone in his voice.

Neither of them seemed taken aback by the question. In fact they looked like they had been expecting it. "I had blonde hair before, if you recall Captain." Rapunzel responded. At his suspicious look she clarified. "It would have been hard for you to miss it, when you cornered us at the dam. But Eugene cut it to save me from - the woman - that held me captive. And it turned brown, as you can see."

_Okay, so they had taken that into account_ he thought irritably. The explanation sounded completely outlandish, but then again if this was the same girl as the blonde, the 70 feet of hair she had been sporting was just as strange. Again that feeling of familiarity about Rapunzel hit him; maybe that was where he recognized her from. The Captain could suddenly feel a headache coming on and again the desire for a drink came over him. Conner was right. Flynn Rider was many things but willingly getting himself caught was not one of them. Plus, he had the suspicion that if he didn't comply with their request to see the King and Queen, he would end up with another face full of horse snot, curtesy of Maximus.

"Fine!" Hektor ground out between clenched teeth. "Conner, inform their Majesties. I will escort… _these two_… to the Great Balcony to await them. The rest of you, return to your posts!" He glared around at the other watching guards. They quickly dispersed as Conner ran towards the palace. Captain Hektor turned on his heel and stalked off in the direction of the Balcony. Hoof beats behind him indicated that Maximus was following with his passengers.

As he lead the pair off, Captain Hektor could hear a whispered conversation between girl and thief. He tried to make it seem he wasn't listening in, but still strained his ears to catch each word.

"You excited, Blondie?" Rider had asked. There was a long pause before Rapunzel answered.

"No, I'm terrified." There was the barest hint of a tremor in the girl's voice. "What if they don't believe us? What if they think we're lying? What… what if they don't like me?" The last question was said so softly that Hektor almost didn't catch it.

"What? Don't be ridiculous. I seriously doubt there is a person out there who would _not_ like you. We proved that over and over again the last couple of days." There was a light-hearted chuckle in the thief's voice. As he spoke the next words, they sounded more like he was reciting lines of a play than anything else, yet they also rang true. "Besides, your parents have spent _eighteen_ years looking out windows waiting for this moment, dreaming about the day you would come home to them. And deep down, you have been too."

Hektor was tempted to look back to see how Rapunzel had reacted to those words. The girl spoke again; the worry in her voice had not been waylaid however. "What if they take you away from me, though? What if they…" she cut off that question quickly, as if she couldn't bring herself to say the words _hang you_. Her worried tone thickened as sobs chocked her voice. "I can't lose you _**again**_, Eugene!"

There was another long pause. This time the captain did glance back, turning his head only enough to see the pair out of the corner of his eye. For some reason, he didn't want to make it obvious that he was eavesdropping on their conversation. Rapunzel had her face buried against Flynn Rider's chest and her arms wrapped tightly around him. The thief was not even bothering to hold Maximus' reins, but was instead holding the girl as tightly, his eyes closed for a moment as he rested his cheek on the top of her head. There was something about that desperate embrace that tugged at something deep inside Captain Hektor's chest. He quickly looked away again.

Just in time he supposed, since that was the same time that Rider spoke again. His voice was low and a little hoarse "I… I can't promise nothing bad will happen, Rapunzel. You and I both know that. We just have to put our trust in Fate and hope that everything turns out. But no matter what happens to me, I want you to know I will _always_ be at your side. Even if I can't physically be there. I promise." The thief's tone was so solemn as he said those last two words that they almost took on a new meaning. Then the light-hearted tone was back. "I'll haunt the shit out of you if I have to." That at least got a weak giggle from the girl. Rider continued once more. "I meant what I said. I love you. You _are_ my new dream."

"And you are _mine_." Rapunzel replied back in a soft whisper.

They reached the stairs that lead up to the Great Balcony. Hektor spun on his heel, schooling his face into as neutral expression so he could to keep any sign that he had been listening in on their conversation hidden. He folded his arms across his chest and jerked his chin in the direction of the stairs. "You can wait for their Majesties up there."

Rider swung a leg over Maximus' rump and dropped to the ground. The thief then turned to help his companion down as well. As he raised his arms to lift Rapunzel off the horse's back, Hektor suddenly noticed a large rusty brown stain along his right side as well as a small tear (no, a cut or slash) in the thief's blue jerkin that was at one edge of the stain. He recognized that colour. It was the colour of dried blood. Yet neither Rider nor the girl seemed concerned about it. So then whose blood was it? Then the girl's words from just a few moments ago came back to him.

_I can't lose you _**again**_, Eugene._

Hektor frowned deeply as he tried to force the evidence he had seen and overheard to fit into some kind of pattern that made sense. Rider had not been injured last night when he had been arrested, nor when he had escaped. Now here he was with signs of a serious injury and yet wasn't _acting_ at all like he had one. Rapunzel said she couldn't lose him again. What exactly did that mean?

Rapunzel saw his frown and must have mistaken it to mean something else. Instantly she wrapped her arms tightly around one of Rider's arms, lifting her chin to stare at the Captain defiantly. Her expression spoke louder than any words could have. _You will NOT separate us_. There was such determination in those large green eyes that Hektor suddenly realized _why_ she looked so familiar. It wasn't just because he had seen her before as the blonde girl. He knew that look she was giving him. He had seen it many times before.

From the Queen when _she_ was in a similar mood.

Except for the length of hair, Rapunzel looked exactly like the Queen.

The shock of that realization made Hektor blink, the frown slowly fading from his face. It actually took everything in him to keep his jaw from unhinging. He stared back at her for a long moment before finally flicking his eyes away. When he did so, he almost got another shock when he saw the understanding and sympathetic look on Rider's face with absolutely no trace of mocking humour.

Captain Hektor cleared his throat suddenly and jerked his head again at the stairs. "Th-their Majesties will be along shortly." Mentally he cursed himself for the stutter. The very last thing he wanted was to show any sign of weakness in front of the thief. Rider will probably hold this over him for the rest of their lives. The Captain pondered where _that_ little thought came from as he watched the pair make their way up the stairs to the Balcony.

For some reason he just knew he wasn't going to like the outcome of the meeting between these two and the royals. Because the only outcome he could envision was one that made Flynn Rider, or whatever his real name is, a permanent resident of the palace.

Suddenly, the desire for a drink became overwhelming.


	2. Interview With The King

**Title:** Interview with a King

**Rating:** T

**Warnings:** Some swearing. Not nearly the amount as in the first chapter.

**Spoilers:** Some references to the movie

**Disclaimer: **This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Disney, the company that controls Tangled. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended

**Author Notes:** To the Guest that left a review; your idea may have actually inspired more than just your suggestion. I may tweek your idea a little bit, but look for it in future chapters. I will make a dedication to you once the chapter is ready. To all; have a look out for a certain reference to an old TV show. I don't want to give it away by saying anymore.

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><p>It was a quiet morning in the palace of Corona. Things had finally settled down after the week-long celebration of Princess Rapunzel's return. Servants were busy putting things back in order and cleaning. Gardeners were setting the Royal Gardens (which had been opened to the public) to rights again. There was even a work-force (comprised of guards, workers and a surprisingly willing group of thugs) helping in the city to return the many market squares to normal again.<p>

King Franklin was back to work as well. He and his wife had put off many of their royal duties so that they could spend as much of their time getting to know their daughter again as they could. While Queen Rosalie would get to spend most of the day with Rapunzel (introducing the Princess to her tutors and showing her some of the duties she would have to take on), he had quite another task at hand. One he had been putting off for the entire week.

For their daughter had not returned to them alone.

Rapunzel had a most unlikely rescuer. The thief Flynn Rider. _Reformed_ thief, the King reminded himself. Both the man and Rapunzel were adamant on that point. Flynn Rider was no more and in his place was Eugene Fitzherbert. Even still, Eugene had been Flynn Rider for a good chunk of his life and Rider had been a thief. Having to be indebted to a thief, former or not, for the return of their daughter was not an easy thing to take. The Queen and he had had several long conversations in private about what should be done about this situation, especially since it had become quite clear to both of them that the two young people were deeply in love.

True love was not a very common thing for those of rank. Most highborn marriages were almost like business deals rather than romantic relationships. Franklin's and Rosalie's marriage had been arranged, but they had been lucky in that their parents had also allowed them the chance to get to know one another before-hand. They were able to be friends before they married and were able to find love with each other later. Then again, the Caronan Royal family had always been a little unusual when it came to such matters.

The King turned a corner to head towards his office and abruptly stopped. Just ahead of him, standing at the junction of two hallways and a set of stairs, was just the young man he needed to speak with. It was the first time he had seen him all week away from Rapunzel's side. Franklin took a moment to just observe Eugene without, hopefully, him being aware of such observation.

He had to admit that Eugene cut quite a good figure in the clothing that had been given him. It was the same general outfit that he had worn as a thief only made of finer materials. A fine doe-skin jerkin instead of plain leather. A silk shirt and silk twill trousers replaced the linen and canvas. Though it was nowhere near as rich as some of the young fops the King had seen over the years, the ex-thief wore them with a careless panache that made them both as fine as the Kings own garments and, at the same time, no different than a commoner's.

Eugene stood with his back to him dead center between the stairs and the two hallways, one fist resting against his hip. The King could see his head make little jerking motions (his eyes darting from side to side, Franklin imagined) as he appeared to be trying to decide which path to take. His other hand was up by his face, perhaps chewing a nail or stroking his chin in thought. Quite frankly the young man looked a little lost.

Perhaps he should have felt concern about an ex-thief running about loose in his palace unattended, but he wasn't. Eugene had been quite candid about his previous exploits. He even admitted that the theft of Rapunzel's crown had been partly his idea in a way. _"There probably isn't a thief in the kingdom that hasn't thought about taking it."_ He had said. _"I just happen to have overheard the Stabbington brothers making their plans so I 'offered' my help. They're good for smash-and-grab jobs, but what this needed was someone who could do roof-work. I had planned to double-cross them from the start."_

And maybe as a father, the King should have been worried about letting this particular young man anywhere near his daughter, let alone allow him to stay in one of the guest suites. Flynn Rider did have a certain reputation after all. Still he wasn't because Eugene was, again, not Flynn anymore.

There was also the fact that, as King, Franklin could have Eugene's head on a silver platter (_LITERALLY_) if he tried anything.

Eugene must have felt the King watching him because suddenly he stiffened and spun around. There was a faint look of panic on the young man's face as he stammered, "I wasn't…! I-I-I was just…"

"Lost?" King Franklin suggested, hiding his amusement as he walked up to him. The panic disappeared and was replaced by indignation as Eugene opened his mouth to protest. The King cut him off before he could say anything. "Don't feel bad. I've lived here my whole life. I still get lost." Franklin never bothered with the Royal Plural except for very formal occasions where it was absolutely necessary. He found it put people at ease. This time was no exception. The comment got a weak chuckle from Eugene.

"Well, I can admit that this is the longest I have stayed within a single building since I left the orphanage. Plus, this place is rather big." Eugene replied, rubbing the back of his neck and giving a lop-sided grin.

"Tell me about it. On the other hand, it is a good thing I ran into you. Come up to my office." The King jerked his head towards the left-hand hallway. "It's time that you and I discussed a few things." He hadn't intended for that last bit to sound as threatening as it did. _Oh well, too late now_.

Instead of taking the lead down the hall, King Franklin kept pace beside Eugene. The king kept his hands lightly clasped behind his back as they walked in silence, indicating direction with a jerk of his head whenever they came to an intersection. He watched the young man out of the corner of his eye. If he was at all nervous about this impending interview, Eugene wasn't showing it. That was a good thing as far as Franklin was concerned. He liked confidence in the person he had to interact with. Being feared made him uncomfortable and extremely nervous people irritated him. He preferred being respected, but approachable.

Once they reached his office, Franklin opened the door and waved Eugene through. The two guards standing on either side of the doorway both looked perturbed, though neither said anything. He was sure it was going to take a while for most of his guards to accept having Flynn Rider walking free in 'their' castle. _Get used to it, lads_ the King thought as he entered and closed the door behind him, _He's here and here to stay as long as the Princess has any say about it._

"Go ahead and have a seat." Franklin said aloud as he made his way around his desk and took his own seat. Eugene shifted from foot to foot and, appearing not to know what to do with his hands, folded his arms across his chest.

"I think I'd rather stand, sir." He replied.

Franklin hid a smirk and merely raised an eyebrow. "Suit yourself. Well then, you probably know why I wished to speak to you, so I will cut to the chase. Do you know what these are?" he asked as he reached out to tap his finger on top of the rather large stack of files tied together in a bundle that was sitting in the middle of his desk.

Eugene lifted his chin a little as he looked at the stack. "It has Criminal Records written on it and judging by the size, I'd say that it's mine in particular."

"Actually no." There was a flash of surprise and confusion on the young man's face at the King's reply. Franklin continued, "These are the criminal records of one Flynn Rider, _not_ a Eugene Fitzherbert." Franklin met and caught the other man's eyes as he put significant emphasis on that one word.

Eugene's brows furrowed. "But I am, or was, Flynn Rider." He protested.

"Do you still consider yourself as Flynn?" The King kept his tone neutral as he asked that question, yet there was still a huge worth of meaning behind his words. Eugene swallowed hard and broke eye contact. When he didn't say anything, Franklin continued, "Then that settles the matter." He picked up the stack of folders and, turning slightly in his chair, tossed the whole lot into the fireplace that was to the side just behind his desk. Eugene's mouth dropped open as the papers caught and burned. He kept looking between the fireplace and the King. Finally he seemed to find his voice.

"What exactly is this supposed to mean, sir?" There was odd note in the young man's tone, like he couldn't quite believe what he had just seen.

King Franklin leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk and linking his fingers together. He looked over his clasped hands at the ex-thief standing before him. "It means that the Queen and I have decided to grant you a pardon. After all it would look badly on the kingdom if the Princess's suitor still retained his criminal record."

Eugene gaped, obviously not expecting that. "A-a pardon? Your Majesty, I don't know what to sa…" Suddenly he cut off his own words as the second sentence registered. He blinked once then his eyes widened alarmingly. He unfolded his arms and started waving them around as if to ward something off before making a 'T' sign with his hands. His voice rose in volume as he spoke, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on! Just a minute! Time out! _SUITOR_?!" The last word was practically a yelp.

"That is what I said." The King replied calmly, finding a great deal of amusement in Eugene's reaction.

"You mean to tell me you're _okay_ with Rapunzel and me _dating_?!" he demanded.

"Courting." Franklin corrected.

"…Nuance!" Eugene had paused, holding up one finger, before saying that word. "But you are _OKAY_ with this? I'm sure I'm the last person who should be questioning your sanity, but are you _**INSANE**_?! I was a thief!"

Franklin put both hands flat on the desk and rose to his feet. "_Flynn Rider_ was a thief! I believe the only thing _Eugene Fitzherbert_ has ever stolen has been my daughter's heart." He locked eyes with the younger man again. The King wondered why he was making such a big fuss about all this. He knew Eugene loved Rapunzel as much as the girl loved him.

"That's very poetic, sir, but I doubt people are going to see it that way." Eugene met his eyes squarely as he also leaned his hands against the desk, taking a stance that mirrored the King's. "Surely you'd rather her be with a prince or lord or something, not some common-born bastard thief."

_Ah. So that's it_ Franklin realized. Eugene had doubts that he was good enough for Rapunzel and had obviously expected that her parents thought the same. The fact that they didn't was throwing him off. "If that's what you think, then I have to wonder what they teach younglings these days about the history of the Royal Family. You won't be the first commoner to become part of it, Eugene. Not by a long shot." Eugene opened his mouth to say something, but the King cut him off by raising a hand. "My grandfather was a clock-maker. My great-grandmother had been a shepherdess. There have been foot soldiers and dairy maids. Merchant daughters and stable boys. Even the odd goose-boy, seamstress, and farmer."

Eugene didn't seem relieved in the least. "That's all well and good, but at least those are _honest_ professions!"

"There also have been four mercenaries, a spy, and a former assassin." King Franklin pointed out. "Compared to _that_, being a thief isn't that bad. Good God, man. You _died_ for her, not even knowing she was the Princess. If _**that**_ doesn't make you as noble as anyone here…" The King paused for a moment then sat back down. This time Eugene dropped into the chair on the other side of the desk, though it was more like he didn't realize he was doing it. "I'm going to level with you, Eugene. Let you in on a bit of a secret about being a Royal. As a Princess, as a King, one must _always_ question the intentions of those around you. Even friends or lovers. You can guarantee that nearly everyone is not interested in you for anything but the crown on your head or the throne under your ass.

"This is something that I grew up with. Every Royal does except my daughter. This is something she is going to have to learn. What I want for her is to have at least _one_ relationship where she doesn't have to worry about all that." Eugene looked like he was going to say something. Franklin shot him a look as he leaned forward. This was something very important that King Franklin needed him to understand. "You don't see her as anything but Rapunzel and I know very well that you don't care about Rapunzel's crown."

"At least not anymore." Eugene put in, giving a sheepish grin to which Franklin smirked back. The King was pleased to see that the young man's sense of humour was resurfacing. "This, a pardon, is way more than I deserve."

"Most will likely think that." Franklin agreed. "In fact I would imagine nearly everyone believes that you have only done this for money. That's to be expected."

"Especially considering my former reputation." The young man straightened a little from the slump he had dropped into. Franklin noted with amusement that Eugene's posture still definitely left something to be desired. And he found it a refreshing changed from the prim and proper that most of his nobles adhered to. Eugene took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he ran a hand through his hair. "But I have pretty much thrown _that_ fake reputation out the window."

The King gave a broad smile as he stroked his full beard. "Maybe it is time to create a new _fake_ reputation." He suggested.

Eugene chuckled. "I don't get much of a choice in that matter. Not if Blondie has any say in it, your Majesty."

"Franklin, young man. You might as well get used to using my name. Or, since you seem fond of nicknames, perhaps Frank." The King paused for a moment then gave Eugene a very hard look. "But don't ever call me Frankie. Only one person gets away with that and I'm married to her."

"Well, damn, there goes my first idea." The ex-thief quipped cheekily. "You sure I can't just start calling you Dad?"

King Franklin rolled his eyes. "No. I don't ever want you to call me that. To have the man who is going to marry my daughter call me that is beyond creepy and even feels a little incestuous."

"Never thought of it that way." Eugene gave a rather dramatic shudder. "I don't know about Frank though. There was a kid back at the orphanage with that name that no one liked. He was a weasel-ly goody-two shoes sort of kid. He ended up with the nickname Ferret-face, which actually I didn't come up with."

"I'm actually a little surprised by that." Franklin said, after giving a hearty laugh. Yes, he could easily see the young boy that Eugene had been coming up with all sorts of creative nicknames for people. To his surprise, Eugene just shook his head.

"Don't be. This might come as a surprise, but I wasn't that outgoing as a kid. More of a bookworm actually." The young man said. Franklin raised his eyebrows at that bit of information. It would seem that this young man has experience with re-imagining himself. A hint of an idea started to form in the back of the King's mind, but he left it there to form on its own. Something to bring up in the future.

"You have mentioned quite a bit about yourself. I thought you 'didn't do backstory'." Franklin said thoughtfully, making quote motions with his fingers. Eugene just gave a shrug and slung one arm over the back of his chair. The King took that as permission to continue digging into the past. "Both you and Rapunzel have mentioned that you are an orphan. Do you remember anything about your family? Maybe you have distant relatives out there."

Eugene gave a scornful laugh at that suggestion. "I probably do, but I doubt they would want to claim me, or I them." The last art was said bitterly as he looked away towards the window. "I wasn't being glib when I said I was a bastard. My mother's name was Eleanor. She went by the name Ellie and worked for a woman known as Madam Scarlett." He kept his face turned to the window, but looked back sideways at the King to judge his reaction.

King Franklin couldn't say he wasn't surprised either by the bitterness or the sideways look. "I know the House of Scarlett. It has quite the reputation among the highborn. Or so I've heard. I have never been one interested in paid companionships." There was a minute relaxation in Eugene's face. "Your father?"

"I don't know who my father was. I don't think Ellie even knew. It was likely one of her clients though. Having a kid hanging around a brothel isn't exactly good for business, but since she was one of Madam Scarlett's favourite girls, I was allowed stick around instead of being shipped off to the orphanage as soon as I popped out." The young man gave another shrug.

Franklin had the feeling that Eugene wasn't nearly as blasé about all this as he was letting on. The King liked to think he was a good judge of a person. Flynn Rider wouldn't let a little thing like being the bastard son of a whore bother him. In fact it would be almost natural to expect that type of pedigree of a thief. Eugene Fitzherbert, though he hid it well, felt entirely different. The fact that he was willingly speaking of this to Franklin said a lot.

"What happened to her? Your mother, I mean." The King asked.

"Died. Ellie got sick when I was about five. Madam Scarlett and her other girls weren't going to keep me around so that's when I ended up in the orphanage. Left there at 14 and if you had read any of those files you just turned to tinder, you'd know what happened after that." Eugene nodded towards the fireplace as he finished.

King Franklin decided to change the subject. There were many more questions he would like to ask Eugene about his past, but he also felt that it was important to not push things too far with this young man. Starting things off between them with an interrogation would sour any chance of having a reasonable relationship with his future son-in-law. No matter what Eugene came from, he was going to end up as part of the family.

"I appreciate you telling me this, but enough about the past. It is time to speak about the future." The King linked his fingers together again. The idea that had been left stewing in the back of his head started to come to the forefront. "I hope you realize that staying here isn't going to be a free ride. I can't have you just idling about the palace like a wastrel."

"I can't? Damn." Eugene gave another lop-sided grin, visibly relaxing even more now that they were off the subject of his past. "I suppose I do need to do something while Blondie's at Princess-school. I take it you have something in mind. It's not lessons for me, is it?"

Franklin shook his head. "You're an adult and while you, like my daughter, have no experience with what it's like to be a Royal, I _think_ I can trust you not to make a fool of yourself in Court. What I had in mind was more in the way of actual work."

"What exactly?" the young man asked, tilting his head a little.

"Nothing you don't have experience at. Oddly enough, you are uniquely qualified for this. It's two-fold. The first is that I would like you to work with the Guard to improve the defenses here. It has come to my attention recently that they are sorely lacking." King Franklin raised an eyebrow and grinned at little.

Eugene smirked, catching a joke. "So you want me to join the Guard? You sure that's a good idea?"

The King snorted. "That is a horrible idea. I want you to work _with_ the Guard, not _in_ it. I would rather you did _not_ join the Guard, to be honest. Quite frankly, I'm sure if you did, Eugene, there would be bloodshed between you and Captain Hektor before the first day is out. This is going to be more of a consultant position. After all, sometimes it takes a thief to catch a thief." The young man sitting across from him looked thoughtful for a long moment, obviously considering the position he was being offered. When he didn't say anything right away, Franklin added, "You would have my permission to prove your points in any way you wished. I would ask that you try to not humiliate them too badly, but that's rather like asking the sky to not be blue."

That made Eugene laugh for a moment at least. Then he sobered. "You said this was two-fold. What's the other half?"

"That's a little more complicated." Franklin answered. "I know in your previous life, you were more concerned with actual theft. Is it safe to assume that you would have also dealt in information as well?" Eugene gave a slightly nod. "Information is important. Intelligence can be worth more than my entire treasury if it can defuse a feud or stop a war from starting. I wish for you to take over that aspect of Corona's defenses. This will be the more secret of the two jobs. I don't want my council to learn that my spymaster is the thief that was robbing them blind little more than two-weeks ago. It would make them mistrustful of the information gathered."

"Like they aren't mistrustful of me already." Eugene muttered. Franklin watched the young man carefully as he again thought over the proposition. The fire popped and crackled in the silence. "All in all, it's not a bad idea I suppose. This is a lot of trust you're giving me."

"I know you won't let me, or rather Rapunzel, down." The King said. What was left unspoken was the fact that Eugene would not only take on this role for him, but also for when Rapunzel took the throne as well. And that keeping the kingdom safe would keep her safe also.

Eugene nodded slowly and grinned. "Well then, where do I sign up, Franko?"


	3. Woman Lesson with the Queen

**Title:** Woman Lesson with the Queen

**Rating:** T

**Warnings:** Some things that some people may find squeemish

**Spoilers:** Some references to the movie

**Disclaimer: **This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Disney, the company that controls Tangled. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended

**Author Notes:** I think it's kind of obvious what this chapter is going to be about. Sort of my head- cannon on how Rapunzel reacts to her first non-magic hair period and how the Queen helps her deal with it. Also, since the last chapter was between the King and Eugene, I thought this one should involve Rapunzel and the Queen.

I have to say that this was very hard to write.

Queen Rosalie felt she couldn't be happier. After eighteen years of wondering and hoping and dreaming, she had her daughter back. Rapunzel was as kind and eager as she could have wished and Rosalie looked forward to being a mother finally. There was only one slight (or rather large depending on your point of view) problem.

For better or for worse, her daughter had already had a mother.

Rapunzel never said much in the way of how she was raised by Gothel. The Queen suspected that it was party to not hurt _her_ feelings about the matter. She, herself, tried her best to remain neutral on that subject as well since it was obvious to her that Rapunzel had loved Gothel as deeply as any daughter should. She couldn't help feel a little resentful to the woman who had stolen her little girl away from her. In a way Rosalie felt a little like a step-mother, an interloper trying to win her over.

There were so many firsts she wasn't there to see. First word, first step, first lost tooth. She wasn't the one who comforted a young Rapunzel after a nightmare or dry her tears after a scraped knee (though she did wonder if Gothel had bothered to either). Rosalie wasn't even there to neither witness her daughter first falling in love nor hold her after her first heart-break. The Queen felt a little shred of comfort to know that while Gothel had done the latter she had also not been there for the former.

But despite of the anger and resentment she felt towards Gothel, she couldn't help but feel relief and joy at how her daughter had turned out. Queen Rosalie wondered how much of that was just Rapunzel's nature and how much was Gothel's nurture. It was hard to imagine a woman who would steal another's baby away for the sake of the infant's hair as being very caring, yet it was just as difficult for her daughter to be the loving kind generous person that she was without some sort of guiding influence.

It was in this conflicted frame of mind the Queen was in as she made her way to Rapunzel's rooms the first morning after the week-long celebration. Now that things were going back to normal, it was time to show Rapunzel some of what she was expected to learn and do in her role as Crown Princess. There was sadly a fair bit she was going to have to learn about politics and the neighbouring kingdoms that most heirs would have learned over their whole lives.

While she and Rapunzel were busy with that, her husband was supposed to dealing with their daughter's saviour, Eugene Fitzherbert. King Franklin had promised not to terrify the former thief and Rosalie was sure he would keep that one. The Queen also wondered which of them were going to have the easier duty that day, her or her dear Frankie.

Queen Rosalie nodded pleasantly to guards that patrolled the hallways of the Royal Wing as she passed them. Reaching the Princess's suite, she lifted a hand and knocked three times on the door politely. Instead of being answered by Rapunzel (like it had on the previous occasions), it was opened by the Princess's handmaiden Jessica. Though only sixteen, Rosalie thought she would make an excellent attendant for and (since they were so close in age) friend to Rapunzel. The younger girl had a pensive look on her face as she curtsied to the Queen. Rosalie lifted an eyebrow a little in question.

"Is the Princess ready? I did tell her that I would come by at this time." She said. Jessica opened the door wider to allow the Queen into the suite. The handmaiden stepped back and was wringing her hands nervously.

"I… uh, I'm not sure, your Majesty." She replied as she glanced back towards the door to the bedchamber which stood half-open.

"What do you mean?" Rosalie asked.

Jessica looked back at the Queen, took a deep breath and let it out slowly before answering. "Well, I brought up the Princess's breakfast as usual. She was already dressing herself and so I offered to help since she is still not used to ties on the back of her gowns." The Queen nodded as she listened to the girl's explanation. Rapunzel turned out to be much more independent than most other highborn girls her age and more used to caring for her own needs rather than having someone else take care of them for her. But there were some things that she was now dealing with that required having someone to help with. Like her new dresses. "She didn't answer right away but when I came into the dressing room, she suddenly jumped, bolted into the bathing room, and shut the door. And she won't open it. Not for me and not for Pascal either."

That was significant. As far as Queen Rosalie knew, Rapunzel didn't like shut doors and had never in her life shut out her chameleon friend. The two were as close as siblings. Rosalie walked across the sitting room and looked into the bedchamber. Indeed, there pacing back and forth in front of the bathing room door was Pascal. The little lizard was an odd shade of green-grey. Most likely due to worry.

Rosalie looked back at Jessica and waved a hand towards the main door. "See to your other duties. I will talk to her. It's probably nothing to be concerned about." The handmaiden nodded and bobbed another curtsy before hurrying out of the suite. The Queen walked into the bedchamber. Pascal noticed the newcomer and ran over. Rosalie smiled as she bent down and held out a hand to him. The chameleon clambered onto her palm and looked up at her with a very worried expression, chirruping.

The Queen had noticed a great deal of intelligence in this creature's eyes ever since Rapunzel had introduced her friend to her parents. Maybe it was a female thing since Franklin hadn't seen it, though he could not deny Rapunzel's deep bond with Pascal. Sometimes Rosalie though Eugene understood, but from what she had seen, the ex-thief had a rather rocky relationship with the _frog_ as he teasingly called Pascal. The Queen was positive _that_ was in retaliation to the whole tongue-in-ear incident.

"Don't worry, Pascal. Let's find out what's wrong." She said to the chameleon. Pascal squeaked happily and ran up her arm to sit on her shoulder, much like he did with her daughter. Rosalie stepped up to the door to Rapunzel's bathing room and knocked lightly. "Rapunzel dear. Is everything all right? May I come in, please?" Rosalie was determined to not just invade her daughter's privacy for any reason. Doing so, in her mind, would make her no better than Gothel, though she had no idea of that was something the other woman had ever done.

She expected several different reactions including no answer, a demand to be left alone, and a plea to come in. What she got, however, was the door opening and Rapunzel, still in only in her chemise, practically flinging herself into her mother's arms. What was even more startling was the young woman was nearly in hysterics, mumbling and sobbing in a way that was difficult for Rosalie to understand what the problem was.

Rosalie wracked her mind as to the cause of all this. The only time she had seen Rapunzel get this emotional over something was when she had told the final moments in her tower as Eugene lay dying in her arms. Was it possible for the young couple to have had a falling out already? That didn't make sense since, according to her handmaiden, Rapunzel had been perfectly normal up until the moment Jessica offered to help her dress. And Rosalie didn't think that offer could have caused all this either.

At first the Queen could do nothing but try to soothe her daughter; rubbing her back gently and not saying anything. Pascal had switched from the Queen's shoulder to his mistress's, offering all the comfort he could give as well. Finally the hysterics slowed enough for Queen Rosalie to make out a few of the mumbled words. "…s-s-so sc-c-cared to leave you! I don't want to die…"

"What? Die?" Rosalie asked, a little alarmed. She gently guided her daughter back into the bathing room and got her to sit down on the edge of the tub. "What are you talking about? Why on earth do you think you're dying?"

"Because…" Rapunzel looked up at her. Rosalie noted that she was not one of those girls who was able to cry 'prettily'. Her green eyes were blood-shot, her cheeks blotchy, her nose red and a little runny (which she was wiping away with the back of her hand). The Queen tried not to wince and wetted one of the face-clothes before gently using it to wipe away the damage. "Because I'm… bleeding…" Rapunzel continued, her face blushing a bright red, "And normally I would just sing it away, but I can't now because I don't have my hair anymore and…" She trailed off into another mumble as she looked down at her hands twisting together in her lap.

Queen Rosalie froze. Then blinked. Then nearly burst into relieved laughter, which would have ruined everything. She fought to keep an amused smile from tugging at the corners of her lips. That was the last thing her daughter needed to see right now. "You said you're… bleeding? Where?" she asked carefully. Rapunzel pointed while looking highly embarrassed and miserable. "And you weren't injured there, right? You're not in pain, are you?"

The young woman shook her head for both questions. Rosalie finally smiled down at her. Pascal, clinging to her shoulder, kept looked back and forth between Rapunzel and the Queen. Obviously the chameleon was just as worried as her daughter was that this was a serious matter, but also seemed a little confused as to why Rosalie wasn't freaking out over it.

"It's all right, sweetheart." Rosalie said as she knelt down in front of Rapunzel. She took the girl's hands in hers. "This is perfectly normal. Every woman gets this."

"It is?" Rapunzel stared back at her in shock. "But… but… but… How can _bleeding_ like this be normal?"

Rosalie paused before answering. This was something Rapunzel apparently had no idea about and it made the Queen wonder what else Gothel hadn't bothered to explain to her daughter. She didn't know whether she should feel relieved or angered over this. "Oh, my poor child." Rosalie cupped her daughter's cheek as she forced her tone to remain neutral. "When all this started, she never explained it to you?"

Again Rapunzel shook her head. When she spoke, her voice was very soft. "I did _try_ to ask Mothe-Gothel about it, but she got angry and yelled and so I thought it was a bad thing so I would sing it away even though it kept coming back and... and…"

"I think I understand." The Queen squeezed her hands lightly. "Like I said, this is normal. It's just your monthly courses. It's part of a woman's fertility cycle." Seeing confusion on Rapunzel's face, Rosalie realized she would need to explain everything. She couldn't help but feel happy about this. At least a little. She never thought, even when Rapunzel returned to them, she would have the chance to do something that was such a major stepping-stone in a mother-daughter relationship. "Let's get you cleaned up and settled. Then we'll go down to the library. I'll explain everything to you and you can ask as many questions as you want. If I don't know an answer, then we can look it up."

Rapunzel still looked confused, but nodded anyway. Rosalie rinsed the cloth again and gave it to her to finish washing her face. After that the Queen showed her the linen to be used and then helped Rapunzel into one of the dresses. Knowing that Rapunzel was already unsettled by this whole thing Rosalie didn't even bother with shoes. Besides, the Princess's gown was long enough to cover her feet.

The Queen next insisted that her daughter sit down and eat the breakfast that had been brought. They still had a full day ahead of them. So she drew Rapunzel out to the sitting room where the tray with her breakfast had been left. As Rapunzel ate, Rosalie took the time to admire and compliment her on the mural she was starting along one of the sitting room walls.

There wasn't much there yet and what was there was done up in a very stylistic manner. Rapunzel's painting was minimalistic, almost child-like. Queen Rosalie rather liked it compared to more realistic paintings. It was refreshing. Already there was something almost like a map; a large forest with a coastline on onside with an island city connected to the mainland by a bridge. That was obviously Sunhame, the capital city of Corona. On the other side of the forest was a narrow valley of steep bluffs that was surrounding a tower. Rapunzel's tower. Rosalie suspected that when the mural was done it would depict the entirety of her daughter's adventure.

Rosalie decided right then that unless Rapunzel expressed an interest in it, she would _not_ arrange for formal art lessons. This style suited her perfectly.

To tell the truth, now that she was faced with having to explain 'the facts of life' to Rapunzel, Rosalie was a little at a loss. She actually had no experience to draw on of a mother telling her these things. When it had been explained to her, Rosalie's mother (and father) had been away from the estate. She had gotten her 'Talk' from Housekeeper. That woman had done a fair job of it, but there wasn't any mother-daughter connection to the conversation.

"What do I need to know about all this?" Rapunzel asked as she finished her breakfast. Rosalie took her hand and started explaining everything as they walked down the hall to the library, keeping her voice low enough to only be heard between the two of them. That it was part of the changes a girl's body goes through when she becomes a woman. What she would need to know to take care when it happened. That it was as regular as the full moon and would happen just as often.

"… Unless you are either with child or too old to have one." She finished as she closed the door to the library behind them.

Rapunzel looked at her blankly. "What does having children have to do with it?" she asked.

"Why everything, dear. A woman can't have children until this starts." Rosalie answered as they sat down on one of the couches that dotted the reading area of the library. The Queen was sure that this was going to be another subject she was going to have to go over. Especially considering her daughter's relationship with Eugene. She did trust the ex-thief, but she did wonder just how far things had gotten between them and if he actually knew how unaware Rapunzel was. Rapunzel had a thoughtful expression on her face for a moment.

"I don't really understand, but I guess that it makes a little more sense than having a big bird dropping a baby on a window ledge." She muttered. Rosalie smiled, recognising the old Stork tale.

"That is usually the story told to children too young to understand these things." Rosalie got up from the couch and went over to one of the bookshelves. She searched the various spines for a moment then plucked one particular book. After a moment she took several other volumes as well, bringing them back to Rapunzel and opening the first. "What really happens is a little more complicated. You know that men and women are different. They are built differently; they have different parts."

The first book was of anatomy. The drawings and descriptions stark and clinical. Rapunzel was fascinated while the Queen found them to be more awkward than anything else. Still she did her best to describe the mechanics of sex, which part went were and how it results in babies. Rapunzel asked a few questions that lead to a discussion on the more emotional side of it. Then came the question that Rosalie had expected all along.

"Do you think Eugene wants to do this with me?" Her daughter asked, with more curiosity than anticipation in her face. Rosalie took a moment to consider the best way to answer that question. She didn't want to scare Rapunzel away from this, but her daughter needed to understand the social ramifications of it.

"I don't know him as well as you do, dear. I would suspect so since it is a natural step to a relationship, but I cannot say for certain. Given that, I have to ask you something very important. Exactly how intimate have you been with him?" Rosalie could feel her own cheeks heat at that. This was going to be awkward and embarrassing for both of them she suspected.

"Nothing like this." Rapunzel answered with pure honesty. "I mean, we kiss. And sometimes he'll touch me in a way that makes me feel fuzzy and tingly all at the same time and it feels _so good_, like I just want to melt away…" she trailed off with a dreamy expression that caused Rosalie to feel just a tiny bit alarmed.

_It would be so very easy for Eugene to…_ Rosalie's thoughts were interrupted by the dreamy expression disappearing to be replaced with a slight frown.

"But then he'll stop. He always stops even though I don't want to." She gave an annoyed huff. "Why does he do that? I mean it feels so good so why do we have to stop?"

The Queen couldn't help but give a little laugh in relief. "I think it is because he doesn't want to get into trouble for letting the two of you get carried away. In the heat of the moment, lust can feel very much like love. Society, especially highborn society, greatly disapproves of love-making before marriage. Normally it would reflect very poorly on the woman, but since you are the Princess and he is a commoner, he would bear the brunt of it. It doesn't help that many people still see him as Flynn Rider."

"And Da would have his head." Rapunzel murmured. She caught the look of surprise from her mother and misunderstood it slightly. "That's sort of what he said the last time. He didn't explain then, but now it makes sense. And I don't want to get him into trouble."

"I'm glad to hear that." Queen Rosalie patted her daughter's hand and smiled. They sat in silence for a moment, until finally Rosalie had to ask, "Da?"

Rapunzel blushed a little and gave a sheepish smile. "It was Eugene's idea. We were talking the other day about it. I… I'm sorry, but calling you Mother is too awkward because… well you know. And Father seems too formal too so he suggested I use other names for you. He started giving me a whole list of them and I picked Ma and Da because I liked them best."

The Queen laughed again and gave Rapunzel a hug. "You know what? I think I like being called Ma." Yes the names were not ones used by most wealthy families, but coming from a daughter she had lost for so long made them feel all the more special. And, unlike Mother, it was a name that didn't have a previous owner in Rapunzel's life.

Just then, the clock sitting on the mantle above the library fireplace chimed the hour. Both women looked at it, startled to see how much time they had spent already.

"Well!" Rosalie exclaimed. She stood up and Rapunzel rose beside her. "We still have many things to do today so we better get to it. Here." She picked up the other books and gave them to Rapunzel who looked at them curiously. The queen explained, "These are some romance novels. I've found them very descriptive and they might give you a better sense of what we were talking about. We'll drop them off in your room before we meet with the tutors."

Her daughter was blushing brightly as they left the library.


	4. A Handmaiden's Duties

**Title:** A Handmaiden's Duties

**Rating:** T

**Warnings:** implying of bad things happening. Some swearing.

**Spoilers:** Some references to the movie

**Disclaimer: **This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Disney, the company that controls Tangled. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended

**Author Notes:** I've noticed a common theme where Eugene and Rapunzel sneak into each other's rooms without anyone knowing. I like the idea that someone does find out but for her own reasons doesn't reveal this to the rest of the palace.

_Jane(Guest)_: Don't worry; I already planned on them waiting a while before getting married. I have far too much for them to do before then.

_silviatangled_: I'll try to put your idea in this chapter somewhere. I just have to figure where though it probably won't be much. Personally I see that as being a private conversation between the two and I'm trying to keep this all as other people's points of view.

* * *

><p>Jessica was thrilled beyond belief when she was assigned to be Princess Rapunzel's handmaiden. It had always been her dream to serve the Royals. Her family had been doing so for generations. And to have to position as a handmaiden to the Princess was the absolute best thing that could ever have happened.<p>

Even if the Princess wasn't exactly very princess-like.

Rapunzel had spent most of her life taking care of her own needs, from tending her wardrobe, to cleaning, even to cooking her own meals. So no matter what Jessica said, her mistress was often helping out with all the things that a handmaiden was supposed to do. Still, she couldn't feel at all annoyed with any of this. Rapunzel was far too kind and friendly a personality to feel negatively about for long. In fact it didn't take long at all to become friends with the energetic Princess.

She was also finding out that being friends with this Princess meant you would become friends with the other important persons in her life. Jessica had also warmed to little Pascal. The chameleon was a charmer all by himself. She couldn't understand him like Rapunzel could, but she got along just fine with him.

There was Maximus, who she really had very little contact with (what with him being one of the Guard horses). Then the various Pub Thugs, which was what Rapunzel called her friends from the Snuggly Duckling. They visited rarely though so, again, Jessica didn't have much to do with them. And finally there was Eugene Fitzherbert, quite possible the oddest of all.

Of course Jessica was well aware of the fact he had also been Flynn Rider. And _everyone_ in the Kingdom knew of Flynn Rider's exploits and reputation. You had to be a fool not to know that. So Jessica was a little wary of the man regardless of the name change. That was only at first though, because he, next to Pascal, was most often in Princess Rapunzel's company. So it didn't take long to see the care and devotion the former thief felt towards the former Lost Princess (and vice versa)

Jessica could almost pinpoint the moment when she realized it too. It had been very early one morning a few weeks after the Princess's return. She had gone up to Rapunzel's suite to find out what sort of breakfast she might want that day only to find the set of rooms empty. She had nearly panicked, thinking that the Princess had been kidnapped yet again.

She ran out, intending to alert the Guards, and was almost around the first turn of the spiral stairs when she heard a series of soft squeaks behind her. The type of squeaks that Pascal made to be precise. Jessica had whirled around to see the chameleon just beyond the top of the stairs, turned away from her, motioning to someone. It was at that moment that she heard the soft pad of bare feet coming down the servants' hall towards the main hallway leading to the Royal suites. Jessica hid in the shadows against the center post of the spiral stairs.

It was Eugene, clad in a night-shirt, carrying a sleeping Rapunzel in his arms. He paused against a wall and peaked around the corner himself, then at the dark stairwell where Jessica was hidden, and then back around the corner again. Apparently he never noticed Jessica. Finally he looked down at the chameleon.

"So far, so good, Frog." He whispered to Pascal, who made a rude noise back. Eugene ignored that. "Let's get her back into bed before anyone finds out she wasn't there and freaks out."

As he slipped down the hall out of her view, Jessica slowly climbed, well more accurately crawled, back up the stairs. She kept to the center where the stairs were narrower, using her hands to brace herself. She only went far enough so that the very top of her head was even with the floor of the hallway. She reached the top of the stairs just in time to see Eugene nudge open Rapunzel's door with one hip. He and Pascal disappeared inside.

A thousand questions were running through her head. At the forefront was how badly this looked. From what she had overheard, Princess Rapunzel had spent part if not all the night with Eugene. If word got out about that, things would get very messy to say the least. Another big question was why had her mistress had left her rooms in the middle of the night in the first place.

A few minutes later, Eugen reappeared, alone. He closed the door behind him silently and rested against it, rubbing a hand through his mussed up hair and down his face. Jessica could see a thoughtful and concerned look on his face. There was something about that look that made her suddenly realized that this wasn't the first time this had happened. And it was clear that despite whatever drove Rapunzel to seek out her former thief in the middle of the night, Eugene was trying to make certain that it wasn't found out.

This was proven to her when Eugene jerked out of his thoughts and stared down the far end of the hallway. He froze for just a second, tense, and then darted back the way he had come and disappeared down the servant's hall again, all in absolute silence. Jessica had ducked down out of sight as he came towards her hiding place, but he didn't even check the stairwell for any potential watchers. It was only after that, that she heard the heavy thuds of footsteps. A few moments later a Guard turned the corner at the far end of the hall. Clearly Eugen had heard the man coming and had run off to keep from getting caught outside the Princess' suite (especially clad in just a night-shirt).

Jessica knew it would look just as suspicious if the Guard found her hiding in the stairwell. So she pushed herself upright and climbed the rest of the stairs, discreetly dusting off her uniform skirt. The guard spotted her almost right away, not that she was trying to hide any longer, and came down the hall towards her.

"You, there." The Guard looked her over. She tried not to groan since it was one that she knew of and who had a reputation of mistrusting any and all servants, especially the female ones. "Jessica Harrow, correct? At your duties a little early, are you not?"

Jessica clasped her hands together in front of her as she met his eyes squarely. The Castelaine had always stressed to the woman serving in the palace to never allow any of the male servants or Guards to intimidate them. "Not at all, Guardsman Jeffers." She replied with absolute politeness. "The Princess is a very early riser. I am on my way to see if she has awakened and what she would like for breakfast." It was the absolute truth after all.

Jeffers frowned and looked over her head to the stairwell and servants' hallway behind her. "You haven't seen anything… suspicious this morning?"

"No, I haven't." The words were out of her mouth before she even thought about it. She decided in that split second to _not_ say anything about the early morning activity she had witnessed. It really wasn't anyone's business. True there could have been something improper going on between Rapunzel and Eugene, yet Jessica didn't think so. The truth of the matter, it had looked more like the Princess had gone to visit Eugene's rooms for some reason, fallen asleep there, and he had merely brought her back to her own rooms. There was nothing really suspicious about that. So in a way she wasn't lying to Guardsman Jeffers.

He kept looking at her with narrowed eyes, probably trying to gauge whether she was telling him the truth or not. Jessica merely widened her eyes just slightly and kept them focused on his, her expression betraying nothing. She was very good at this. The only person who could ever tell if she was lying or not was her own twin, Jason. This time was no exception as Jeffers harrumphed in irritation.

"If you see anything, make sure to report it at once." He growled as he brushed by her and continued on with his morning patrol.

"Of course." She murmured to his retreating back. She smirked a little. If Eugene was as good as his reputation as Flynn was, he would already be back in his own rooms with none the wiser. For some reason she got the impression that this wasn't an isolated incident. It was likely not the first time and just as likely not be the last. So, for now anyway, Jessica would keep silent on the matter.

And so she did.

As she continued with her duties over the next few days, her mind kept returning to the puzzle of what had led to the Princess spending the night not in her own rooms. The more she thought about it, the more that the obvious answer came clear. Night terrors. By now the entire palace knew the story of the Princess's adventure. And it wasn't hard to imagine the types of things that could haunt Rapunzel's dreams. And so it wasn't difficult to see why she would go to the one person in the palace that could truly understand them.

Then one night she learned that Princess Rapunzel wasn't the only one suffering from nightmares.

It was very late, nearly midnight. The only reason that Jessica had even gone to the Princess's suite at that hour was because she realized she had left a bit of mending there that she was supposed to have finished in the morning. Rapunzel wasn't a demanding mistress and likely wouldn't be angry about this, but Jessica had promised she could get it done. And promises were Very Important to Rapunzel. Even the little ones.

She had just slipped inside and was about to strike a match to light one of the candles when she heard the soft click of a door opening. It sounded like the balcony door off Rapunzel's bedroom. As silently as she could, Jessica ghosted across the sitting room to the slightly opened door. She was very grateful for the Princess's habit of leaving it cracked open. It wasn't hard to see into the next room, as she found when she peaked around the edge of the door. There was a full moon that night and that made it nearly as bright as day.

Eugene was just sitting down gingerly on the far side of the Princess's bed, looking down at her. With his face in profile and the moonlight behind him, Jessica wasn't able to read his expression clearly but what little she could see looked haunted. He reached out as if to brush Rapunzel's face with one hand, but then pulled back like he didn't want to wake her. That was, of course, when Rapunzel stirred and woke on her own.

"Eugene? What's wrong?" she asked her voice soft. Rapunzel sat up in bed and took his hand.

The former thief gave a chuckle and Jessica could tell he was giving one of his infamous grins when he answered. "Wrong? What makes you think anything's wrong, Blondie?" It was clear that the Princess didn't buy it either.

She gave him a long look. "You had a nightmare, didn't you?" The question sounded more like a statement. Eugene gave a defeated sigh and pulled his hand away. He turned away a little and slouched. Rapunzel crawled out from under the covers and to his side. She sat on her knees and put her arms around his shoulders.

"Guess I can't hide anything from you." He muttered, but didn't pull away. There was slight annoyance in his tone, or perhaps just that tone of the exasperated male. Rapunzel giggled softly.

"Nope. Nor should you. That's what you told Da when he said you shouldn't tell me about the things he's going to have you do." Jessica didn't have any clue what Rapunzel meant, but she could plainly hear the smile that surely was on the older girl's face.

"No, what I said was that he was a blithering idiot if he thought I wouldn't tell you about the spying stuff. I kept you in the dark once and I'm _not_ making the same mistake twice." There was an odd silence after Eugene's words that made Jessica feel that he had said more than he intended to. The mention of Eugene spying for the King was news to her, but when she thought about it later, it made sense.

Rapunzel rested her chin on his shoulder. "So what was the dream about? Because I'm not going to let you go until you tell me." When Eugene didn't answer the Princess prodded further. "Was it about the Tower?"

Eugene shook his head and seemed to hunch further in on himself. "No. The beach." There was another pause and then he turned in Rapunzel's arms. The haunted look was back. "That night, they never… They didn't…" He couldn't seem to finish his words.

"They _never_ touched me, Eugene." Rapunzel answered almost fiercely. He relaxed slightly and put his arms around her waist as he buried his face into the crook of her shoulder. To Jessica it looked less like an embrace and more like a drowning man clinging to the last bit of wood to keep him afloat. The Princess just held him and pressed her lips to the side of his head.

"Instead of a boat, they had me tied up to a tree. They made me watch as they… _hurt_ you." Eugene's voice was low and muffled. And the way he said the word _hurt_ made it clear exactly what he meant. "Over and over again. No matter how hard I fought, I couldn't get free… I couldn't _**stop**_ them…" His voice grew thicker as he spoke.

Reputation had always painted Flynn Rider as arrogant and proud. Over the few weeks he had lived here in the palace, Jessica had come to see while Eugene Fitzherbert didn't have nearly the pride and arrogance of his thief personae, but that didn't mean he didn't still had some. Seeing him almost breaking down like this left her feeling awkward. This was certainly something Eugene wouldn't want anyone else to know. It seemed like Princess Rapunzel was the only person he felt comfortable enough to let his guard down around. Just like he was the only one that she was that comfortable with.

Seeing the way the two hold each other in that moment made Jessica realize she was essentially spying on a very private moment between them. She turned her back to the door. There was silence in the other room for a long moment. Finally she heard the bed shift.

"Lie down. The bed it big enough for both of us." Rapunzel said. "And I always feel better sleeping with you after a nightmare."

Eugene laughed quietly and drawled, "Rapunzel…"

"Stop smoldering. You know what I meant. We're only going to be sleeping." There was a soft giggle in the Princess's voice now. There was the sound of sheets moving and then silence again. Jessica decided that as soon as they fell asleep again, she would try to leave.

"I still can't believe your ma gave you all those smut books." Eugene said after a moment. "Seriously! What was she thinking?"

There was another soft giggle from Rapunzel. "Probably that she didn't want me learning about all _that_ from you. Especially in the way your filthy little mind is obviously thinking."

Jessica had to cover her mouth to keep from giggling herself as she heard Eugene's protest. "Hey! My mind isn't little." It was amusing to hear him _not_ say anything about the filthy part.

"Eugene! Just go to sleep!" Rapunzel playfully ordered.

"All right, all right." There was a pause, "Good night, my Princess."

"Good night, my Rogue."

Jessica made her way back across the sitting room, collecting the mending that she had come for in the first place. She went slowly to make sure that the Princess and her lover (which she decided was the right term even though the two weren't actually lovers yet) were fast asleep. Just before opening the door, she cast a glance back at the bedroom door and blinked to see Pascal perched on the back of one of the padded chairs. The chameleon must have chosen to sleep out here instead of with the pair in the other room.

He saw her and a look of shock and horror came over his little face as he slowly turned white. Jessica just grinned, held a finger to her lips, and winked before slipping out the door.

She found herself humming softly under her breath as she made her way back to her room in the servant's wing. In a way it was hard to describe what she felt about what she uncovered. She was a little saddened and worried that both the Princess and her Rescuer were suffering these nightmares, but she was very glad that they at least had each other to get through it together. They were each other's rock and comfort. The bond they shared was closer than any she had ever witnessed, including that of the King and Queen. And she planned to do anything she could to help them keep that bond strong, even if it meant turning a blind eye to the two sharing a bed before marriage.

She was almost to her room when a hiss startled her. Jessica jumped and whirled, spinning around to find her twin brother standing in an alcove just behind her. He was grinning and had a bundle of clothing tucked under one arm. "Good God, Jace! You nearly gave me a heart attack." She scolded.

"Not any of my bloody fault." He snickered. "You're the one with your head in the damn clouds."

Jessica gave him a hard look and tsked. "Jason Harrow, watch your language."

He gave her an arrogant look and scoffed. "I'm 16 years old. I can say what I want."

"Oh really?" she crossed her arms and smirked. "Then you wouldn't mind if I told mama about it?"

Jason immediately lost his smug expression and glared at her. "You wouldn't." She just stared back, giving him the same look she had given Guardsman Jeffers a few nights earlier, all the while holding back a grin. Jason narrowed his eyes for just a moment then started to laugh, instantly able to tell she was bluffing. Jessica rolled her eyes, but grinned as well.

"So what _does_ have you hiding out near my rooms this late?" she asked, shifting from foot to foot. She was tired and, though she loved her twin dearly, she wanted to get back to her room.

"Thought you might as well take this." He held out the bundle which proved to be a suit of men's clothing. Rather familiar clothing actually. Just as she had been assigned as Princess Rapunzel's handmaiden, Jason had been tasked with performing the duties of manservant to Eugene Fitzherbert. It was a situation that, from she had heard from her brother, the older man was not at all used to.

She took the clothing with a shake of her head. "When did you find out?"

"I may or may not have seen a Princess sneaking into a thief's rooms a few nights ago." Jason answered after running a hand through his hair and glancing around to make sure they were alone in the hallway. "When did you?"

"Probably around the same time; when I may or may not have seen a thief returning a Princess to _her_ rooms." Jessica met her brother's eyes and gave him a crooked smile. "We're not going to say anything."

It wasn't a question, but Jason nodded in agreement. "It isn't anyone's business but their own. So long as there doesn't end up being any _lasting_ evidence of it…" he trailed off, wagging his eyebrows.

Jessica slugged his arm, hard. Jason made as if to cower away from her, grinning. "They aren't doing any such thing! I can guarantee that." She retorted, thinking back on what she had overheard less than an hour before. She looked down at the clothing he had handed her, then slyly back at her brother. "I'll get you one of her dresses to keep in his rooms. That way if they over-sleep, there's no need for them to try to scramble back to the proper rooms without being seen."

"By other servants anyway. Flynn's too good to get caught by the Guards. And I wouldn't be surprised if he's been teaching her how to do it too." Jason replied with a shrug. "Any who. Night, sis." With a backwards wave, Jason turned and headed off to his own room.

Jessica shook her head again at her twin's retreating back and quickly returned to her room. She was very grateful that she had one of the few single rooms. Most of the other maids had to share. She at least wouldn't have to explain anything about the extra clothing to a curious roommate. She sat down on her narrow cot and pulled out the sewing basket she kept underneath it. She quickly got to work on the mending, humming again as she did so.

This was, after all, all part of a handmaiden's duties. Tending to the Princess's needs. Caring for the Princess's well-being. And keeping the Princess's secrets.


	5. Orphanage Visit

**Title:** Orphanage Visit

**Rating:** T (just on the safe side)

**Warnings:** Perhaps some swearing (Eugene seems to have quite the mouth on him)

**Spoilers:** Some references to the movie, but not much.

**Disclaimer: **This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Disney, the company that controls Tangled. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended

**Author Notes:** Just so there is no confusion, there are going to be characters that will still refer to Eugene as Flynn. Maximus is one of them. Also, I've tried to do Maximus' point of view slightly different from a human's. He is a horse after all, even if he is a smart one.

Also, I apologize for how long it has taken to get this chapter out. Life has been getting in the way a little. Plus part way through writing this I hit a major creative fart. And then my creative muse started jumping the gun with other ideas instead of helping with this chapter. Plus this was hard to write since I never was a big sister. Hopefully it won't take me nearly as long to write the next one.

_First Guest Reviewer_ (sorry don't know what else to call you): This is part of my tweaked take on your Rapunzel-as-big-sister idea. Sorry it kinda evolved from your idea into this. Still I hope you like it. This is also just the start of it. There will be more that show up in later chapters.

_SRFirefox _and _dreamer 3097_: Thank you. I'm glad you both are enjoying this.

* * *

><p>"I'm coming with you and that's that!"<p>

"I just can't see _why_ you want to, Blondie. It'll probably be very boring."

"Oh you're just being ridiculous, Eugene."

Maximus snorted into his hay-net as he listened to the argument – correction, discussion – between Princess Rapunzel and Flynn Rider. The two mates didn't argue. They had very serious discussions. It was a very odd quirk of human behaviour that the pair indulged in from time to time. Though he wasn't around other human mated pairs often, the horse was pretty sure that this wasn't typical behaviour. Having lived among humans his whole life, he was certainly more of an expert than say that chameleon Pascal (even if Pascal was more of an expert on Rapunzel-behaviour).

"I am not being ridiculous. Why do you want to go so badly in the first place?" Maximus flicked his ears at Flynn's reply. The horse could tell this wasn't a serious disagreement. There was far too much amusement in both Flynn's and Rapunzel's voices. Sometimes he thought they liked to do this just to confuse people. Like making it sound that they were fighting then turn around and start that weird human mating behaviour. What was it called? Oh yeah, _kissing_.

"Because I want to." Rapunzel answered, coming up beside Max and scratching his ears. Flynn was on the horse's other side and lifting a saddle into place. "We've both been so busy lately, what with my lessons and your work and this volunteering. Besides, you were the one complaining about the children getting under foot whenever you tried to do any work on the orphanage. I can distract them long enough for you to at least get that hole in the roof fixed."

As the preeminent horse of the Royal Guards, Maximus knew all about and approved of the King's idea to have Flynn point out the weak spots in the Guards' defenses. It certainly was a good way to put a thief's talents to good use. There was only so much a horse could do to get the men into shape after all. He had also been pleased to learn that Flynn had decided, independently, that _he_ needed to do more in the way of redeeming himself in the eyes of the people. His work with the Guards was part of it, though that was really only witnessed by the Guards. And Flynn was only just starting his spy work, which was going to be, by nature, all covert. So Flynn was taking a few hours every few days to volunteer at three of the local orphanages.

Maximus sighed happily and leaned into the scratches (incidentally away from the saddle). The Princess always knew just where his itches were. He ignored the exasperated snort from Flynn caused by his shifting away from the ex-thief right when the man was trying to saddle him. It wasn't that he dis-liked Flynn. No, it was just that scratches (and apples) were more important. Especially if given by a certain brown-coated Princess.

Flynn gave a melodramatic sigh, probably at both the antics of the horse and in response to his mate's words. "All right! Fine! I suppose I could use _someone_ to get the bratlets out from under foot for a couple of hours." With that, he set the saddle in position and bent to tighten the girth.

Rapunzel broke into a wide grin. She ducked under Maximus' neck and pecked Flynn on the cheek. Maximus snickered (there was no other way to describe the very human like sound) as he looked back at the man with one eye. The thief was _so_ wrapped around the Princess's finger. Flynn was grinning rather goofily at Rapunzel up until he heard the snicker. The sound made him look over the girl's head to see Maximus was giving him _that_ look. The one that was laughing at him. The smile flickered for a second as annoyance flashed in Flynn's eyes. Maximus knew he never liked it when Maximus laughed at him, which only made the horse want to do it more.

"Of course you'll have to ask Max if he minds carrying double today." Flynn's smile changed to a sly smirk as Rapunzel turned to look back at Maximus with those big green eyes of hers. She didn't even have to say anything. Maximus backed a step and shot a glare at the ex-thief. Flynn just lifted his eyebrows as his smirk widened just a little to say _payback's a bitch_. Then he added, "Or you could try out those riding lessons you've been getting with one of the other horses."

He didn't even put up a token fight. Maximus snorted and bowed his head in acceptance. As if he would ever trust one of the other horses to carry the Princess when he was perfectly able to. That was about as likely as Flynn trusting any of the Guards with her safety.

"Thank you Maximus!" Rapunzel threw her arms around his neck and scratched his ears again.

Flynn went and got the pillion pad and attached it to the back of the saddle, then brought out the bit-less hackamore that Maximus actually preferred to a proper bridle. He was smarter than the average horse after all and didn't need the guidance from the bit. Once he was all tacked up, Maximus held still as Flynn lifted Rapunzel onto the pillion and then swung up into the saddle. With his passengers settled, Maximus moved out at a walk down into the city.

The ride down to St Augustine's Home for Orphan Children didn't take long. The Guards standing watch at the Palace gates didn't even give the small group a second glance (less because they trusted Flynn and more because Maximus and the Princess would keep the former thief in line). The everyday citizens of Sunhame also paid almost as little attention to them as they passed through the streets. A few waved or smiled which were returned by both humans. The people of Corona loved and respected Princess Rapunzel and they were slowly starting to warm up to the reformed Flynn Rider as well.

Their arrival at the orphanage was greeting by nearly the whole herd of young children piling out of the building followed by the younger two of the three adults that ran it, each holding an infant. The three women were nuns and had fifteen children in their care ranging from infants to teenagers. It was almost even between boys and girls. St Augustine's wasn't the same orphanage that Flynn had lived at (that one had been shut down shortly after he left), but it was the one that was the most in need of assistance.

Maximus had to be very careful about where he placed his hooves as he came to a stop. None of the young children were careful about scampering around him. That is until Flynn took them into hand.

"Hey! Back up you lot." Flynn called out with a laugh before swinging his leg over. "I brought you some Royal Company so you all better behave." Maximus rolled his eyes as he glanced back to see Flynn slide down off his back. There was nearly an audible gasp as the children's eyes all went wide at the same time. Even the two adults were surprised and tried to curtsy to the Princess.

Rapunzel smiled widely at them as she was helped down. "Hello! I've been hearing so much about all of you that I just had to come visit myself." She looked at the two women and then went over to urge them back up on their feet. "Please, I don't want you to do that. You don't need to." She easily managed to get one of them to hand over one of the infants to her. The baby gurgled quite happily even through the change of hands.

Flynn had that goofy grin again as he came up behind the Princess, a couple of the younger boys hanging off of him already. "Blondie figures she can help you keep the rest of these guys entertained today." He said to the two nuns. "Rapunzel, these are Sisters Mary-Anne and Anne-Marie."

"That's Marion and Agatha, young man, as you well know." A cracked aged female voice said as a much older woman stood in the doorway with a third infant on her hip. "Welcome Princess. We are honoured that you could come."

"And this lovely _young_ lady is Sister Ester." Flynn replied smoothly, obviously pouring on the full measure of his charm.

The old nun merely gave the former thief a nonplussed look and sniffed. "Mr. Fitzherbert, I do believe you had some rather important repair work scheduled for today. If so, I suggest that you get to it, young man, while there is still day light. The last thing anyone needs is for you to fall off the roof and break your fool neck."

"Ester!" Flynn let go of one of the boys hanging off him to dramatically place a hand over his heart. "Do you have no faith in my roof climbing abilities? Because I can assure you I have not fallen off a roof in years."

Maximus let out a snort of derision, knowing full well that Flynn's _abilities_ came from all his years of thievery. A few of the younger children had surrounded the horse and were offering their hands for him to sniff, which Maximus obliged. He liked human foals well enough. Especially when the smallest of them held out an apple for him.

"So you _claim_. That is precisely why I am holding you personally responsible for your helpers' safety. Everything needed has already been delivered." Ester continued waving the arm not occupied by a squirming infant at a pile of lumber, a ladder, and a bucket with a hammer sticking out of it which probably also held nails.

Flynn gave a two-fingered salute to the old nun. "Aye, aye ma'am." He gave Rapunzel a peck on the cheek and turned to three of the oldest boys. "Mark, Tris, Johnny. Come on. We've got our marching orders."

"Coming Mr. Flynn." One of the boys, the tallest of the three called as they broke off from the rest of the group and headed towards the pile of wood.

"I've told you and told you. I don't go by that name anymore." Maximus flicked his ears at Flynn's half-amused grumble.

The horse, though most of his attention was taken up by the youngsters vying to give him scratches, also noticed something rather odd that no one else seemed to. Horses, after all, do have an amazingly wide peripheral vision. As Flynn made his way over to join the boys, he seemed to pause for a moment blinking rapidly as if his eyes were bothering him. Whatever it was made the man frown, furrowing his brows together. It was only for a brief second because at that moment, the oldest girl, a very dark-haired thirteen year old, approached Flynn with a hopeful expression.

"Can I help too, Mr. Eugene?" she asked.

Flynn immediately chanced his expression to that of a sympathetic grin. "Sorry, Mae. I don't think Sister Ester would like that much. You know she thinks girls shouldn't climb things like roofs. It's not lady-like." Maximus could tell there must have been disappointment on the girl's face just by the way her shoulders slumped. Flynn looked over her head to meet Maximus' eyes. The horse gave a brief nod. "Say, why don't you look after Max for me? Brush him, give him some water, make sure the others don't feed him too many apples, that sort of thing."

The young girl heaved a sad little sigh and nodded. "Okay." The former thief gave Mae's shoulder a little pat then went to join the older boys as they lifted the ladder into place. The girl watched them for a moment then made her way over to Maximus. The horse could easily see she was still disappointed and that was confirmed when he hear her mutter, "It's not fair they get all the fun."

As she took a hold of his reins, Maximus bumped her thin shoulder with his nose. There wasn't much else he could do, but it at least made the girl smile, if only a little.

Rapunzel came over to join with the rest of the children surrounding Maximus. Sister Marion had come with her, the infant the Princess had been holding back in her arms. "All right everyone. Luke, it's nap time." The nun said to the youngest, a little boy of four years. Luke nodded solemnly and took Sister Marion's hand. She looked around at the remaining eight children. "The rest of you are to go around to the back garden to play for a while. The princess will be keeping an eye on you so you all will behave for her, right?"

There was a chorus of "Yes Sister".

Rapunzel grinned down at them. "I'm sure they won't be any problem at all." She held out her hands to two of the eight year olds and then led the way around the side of the orphanage. Mae followed behind the rest, leading Maximus. The horse settled to one side of the yard with the bucket of water that Mae brought over to him. The young teen had also fetched a brush and immediately started running it over his withers. The rest of the orphans circled around Princess Rapunzel.

"So what sort of game should we play?" She asked, setting her hands on her knees and bending down to the children's level. "I'm afraid I don't know very many group games." This instantly caused the children to put up a chorus of game suggestions, none of which made much sense as each child talked over the others in the attempt to have their choice heard. Various versions of tag were called out as was such things as Guards-and-Pirates and hopscotch. The three boys were very much in favour of the former while the four girls the later. Mae stayed out of the discussion, obviously preferring to take care of Maximus.

Maximus could see that, for all her enthusiasm, the Princess was looking just a little bit overwhelmed. She was taking on the distinct look of someone being pecked to death by ducks.

"Need a hand down there?" Flynn called down from the roof. There was a great deal of amusement in the former thief's voice. "A lot different from pub thugs, aren't they?"

Rapunzel huffed and looked up at him. "Don't you have a roof to fix?" she called back, somehow managing to look down her nose yet look up at the same time. "We'll be just fine." Flynn just laughed and disappeared again. Shortly after there was the sounds of hammering.

After a few more minutes of debate, they finally managed to settle on hide-and-seek and just to avoid another debate on who should be It first, Rapunzel decreed that she would. Solemnly she closed her eyes and started counting backwards from 50 as the rest of the children scattered. There were giggles and "shh!"s as each of them found a hiding place.

"Five… Four… Three… Two… One!" The Princess called out, opening her eyes and looking around. "Ready or not, here I come."

It really didn't take long for her to find everyone. Rapunzel _was_ very good at this particular game, having played it countless times with Pascal back in her tower. They played several rounds before the group grew bored. The final round devolved into a game of tackle tag between the three boys while the four girls gathered in one corner of the yard, giggling over a folded bit of paper that one had pulled out of a pocket. Maximus watched as Rapunzel watch the tag game for a while and then wandered over to the girls to see what was so interesting.

"What's this, Jenna?" she asked the girl holding the bit of paper.

"It's a fortune-teller." One of the nine-year olds answers, holding it up for the Princess to look at. "Here pick a colour."

Maximus lifted his own head to get a look at the thing as well and saw that the paper had been folded in such a way that there were four sort-of squares of colour visible. Red, blue, yellow, and green. The girl held the fortune-teller pinched between her thumbs and fore-fingers.

Rapunzel looked it over thoughtfully. "Hmmm. How about blue."

The girls grinned as the one holding the paper started opening and closing it in two directions as she slowly said the letters of the word out loud. "B-L-U-E. Now pick a number." Jenna offered it again to Rapunzel, this time holding it open a little so she could see inside.

"Seven." The Princess said after looking into the fortune-teller. Jenna repeated the process, this time slowly counting the chosen number.

"Now you pick a number for your fortune." The other nine-year old said, leaning over Jenna's shoulder. The two eight-year olds nodded in agreement.

"Okay. I pick five." Rapunzel answered.

Jenna opened up the folded bit of paper, looking under the flap that had had a number 5 written on it. "You are going to be rich and famous." She read out loud. For some reason that Maximus couldn't understand, this statement made all the little girls giggle.

"That one's silly, Jenna." Eight-year old Holly said through her laughter. "She's already rich and famous. She's the Princess. Let me try." She started to reach for the fortune-teller.

At that moment, probably just because no one was closely watching them, the game of tag between the three boys took a turn. The nine-year old tripped while running and went sprawling onto the one patch of gravel in the whole garden. The other two froze as he left out a howl that made Maximus nearly jump out of his own hide. The horse pinned his ears back as the Princess rushed over to the fallen boy. The noise got worse when Rapunzel tried to get him to let go of his elbow so she could see how badly he had hurt himself. The boy, Gavin, was not having any of it.

All of a sudden, Flynn was there, off the roof and beside Rapunzel. "Let's have a look-see." He firmly pried the boy's fingers away and examined the scrape. Maximus shuddered a little at the distasteful sight of blood. For all he was trained to fight, blood-letting still offended every horse-sense he had. Flynn examined the wound while Rapunzel held the boy's other hand and the rest of the children gathered around to watch. "Well," he said finally, "I think we might just have to cut it off."

Maximus was about to stomp over there and pummel the thief at that until he saw the slight grin and the wink Flynn gave to Gavin. Rapunzel on the other hand, missed both of those things.

"Eugene!" she cried, horrified and smacked him across the shoulder with the back of her hand.

"Ow! What the… Blondie! I was joking! He's fine."

She obviously didn't believe him. "That's a horrible thing to say."

Flynn rolled his eyes and stood up. "What? We were told that all the time if we got hurt back when I was a kid. Besides, it got him to stop crying." He did have a point but Maximus thought that had more to do with the fact that Gavin had been staring at Flynn with the same horrified expression that Rapunzel had been sporting. Rapunzel opened her mouth to berate the ex-thief further when Sister Ester appeared in the back doorway.

"What was all the yelling? What went wrong?" the elderly woman asked.

"Everything's fine, Ester." Flynn replied before the Princess could. He reached down to help the boy onto his feet again. "Gavin just took a nose-dive and skinned his elbow."

Without even missing a beat the nun looked at the young boy and said, "Oh dear. Gavin, are we going to have to cut off your arm?"

Both Rapunzel and Maximus nearly gave themselves whiplash as they spun their head around to stare at the old woman.

"No…" the boy answered, scowling but smiling at the same time. It seemed that now Gavin thought the idea that they would amputate his arm for a skinned elbow was actually amusing. It was also funny, in a strange way, how he had gone from howling to horrified to this all in the space of a few minutes. All because of the 'threat' of losing an arm.

Sister Ester motioned for him to follow her inside. "Come in and I'll get that cleaned up. Otherwise we might have to." Gavin gamely trotted inside after her. The show over, the rest of the children went back to their games.

Rapunzel narrowed her eyes as she turned to look back at Flynn. He just looked back at her, arms crossed and giving her an _I told you so_ grin. She crossed her own arms and glared right back. "It's not funny."

"Oh, but it is. Serious, Blondie, I would never have said that if he had actually been badly hurt." Flynn replied. "The way it was told to me is that you say something so outrageous especially when it's not serious and the kid realises that they aren't as badly hurt as they think they are. I know it sounds crazy, but as you saw, it does work."

"I still think it's a horrible thing to say to someone." Rapunzel muttered.

Flynn chuckled and gave her a hug. "Don't worry about it. I'll bet anything that Gav will come barrelling out of there all eager to show off his bandage. I've got to get back up top before those three do something stupid and we have more injured kids on our hands. Otherwise Ester will have our heads."

That made Rapunzel laugh. "Well, that's not unusual for you. According you, _someone_ always wants your head. Da, Captain Hektor, now Sister Ester…"

"Don't forget Max and the frog." The ex-thief added.

"Chameleon." She put in right on cue.

He gave her another squeeze. "You're doing great though. Just like a big sister to these kids." With that Flynn went back around to the ladder and up to the roof.

Maximus found he actually agreed with Flynn on that last statement. The Princess had a fun-loving nature and was a natural with children. He had made note of it way back on the day of her birthday watching her interact with those four little girls who had braided her hair and again during the celebrations of her return. It really was almost a shame that Queen Rosalie had been unable to foal again after Rapunzel. She would have been an excellent older sister.

Just then there was a short brown-haired blur as Gavin ran gleefully out of the back door of the orphanage. "Hey, Princess Rapunzel! Check this out!" he yelled.


End file.
